Halloween 2 Review

This weekend marks the return of 2 horror franchises, Final Destination and Halloween. Unfortunately, they have both failed to make a comeback.

In Halloween 2, Rob Zombie's remake failed to capture what is great about the series. Zombie, who wrote and directed this film, tried to explore both the mind of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, the sole survivor of Zombie's first Halloween.

The movie starts off right where the first one ended. Laurie is rushed to the hospital in the wake of Michael's reign of terror. Myer's body, presumed dead, is transported in a van to the coroner's office. The van just happens to crash into a cow in the middle of the road, reawakening Myers.

A year later, Laurie is trying to cope with the horror that had befallen her. She is now living with her friend, whose father is the sheriff. She starts having bad dreams that, unfortunately, the viewer has to experience with her.

The movie tries to show the mind of Myers and Laurie. While it might be an interesting idea, the execution is awful. The viewer is transported into these "trippy" scenes that look into Michael's and Laurie's pasts. This unfortunately pulls the viewer out of the movie.

One thing that I did find interesting was the fact that it showed the contrast between Laurie's life and Dr. Samuel Loomis. Loomis, Michael's former psychologist, has struck it rich with his books about the killer, while the books have negatively impacted the people that have been effected by Myers. It shows how Dr. Loomis has gotten rich off of his story and how the fame and fortune has gone to his head. Laurie, on the other hand, starts sinking more and more into depravity, until she finally loses it.

This movie isn't as good as Zombie's first, but it still has it moments. It felt a lot more visceral than his previous movie, leading to more suspense and more horrific kills.

The ending was something that I didn't expect. I am not going to spoil it, but with the way it was set up, it could lead to a new Halloween that we have never seen the likes of before.

The idea of looking into the minds of Myers and Laurie was a great idea, but it just did not turn out how I would have liked it. This movie will probably not be at the box office long, so if you want to see how the story of Zombie's Michael Myers continues, you better get there fast.

6.5 out of 10

The Final Destination 3D Review

The Final Destination is the fourth and final movie in the long running horror franchise. Like in all the previous Final Destination movies, where the main character foresees the untimely deaths of other characters through gruesome accidents, this one involves a teen that has a premonition of a deadly car race.

The teen, named Nick, realizes that death is coming for him, so he leaves the racetrack along with some of his friends and a few other people who heed his warning. Soon, some of the people are dying and it is up to Nick to keep everyone alive.

This movie is just a rehash of the other three movies, only with a different cast. It still has the same gruesome dismemberment scenes that we have all come to know from this series.

Some events leading up to the death seen even more convoluted than in past iterations. One event happens, and then another, and the events eventually culminate into the horrible death of a person. They draw it out too much instead of making the cause of death somewhat plausible.

The Final Destination can be either seen in 2D or 3D. I saw it in 3D. The added dimension did not really have that much of an impact on the movie. It felt like it was just an afterthought. An object would come flying at the audience, letting the viewer know that in the coming minutes someone was about to get killed by that very object. The movie did this countless times. I felt that it really detracted from the overall experience of the movie.

The acting in this movie was awful. Most of the acting felt forced, which is not something I want to see. Even though this series has never had a good track record for acting, you think that by the fourth movie they would have gotten a little better.

Lastly, the story was laughable. There were scenes where they tried to add comedy, but it failed miserably. The previous movies, especially Final Destination 2, tried to have a story. While it did not work on all levels, it did, however, give us a connection with the characters. It made us care for them and care whether they lived or died. The Final Destination, however, did not do this. If a person died, it was just another person. The viewer did not have that same sense of compassion as in some of the previous movies. The whole movie just felt like many people died for no reason.

This movie is a standard horror flick. It's nothing that hasn't been done before. If the viewer likes to see various gruesome deaths, this is the right movie. If you are squeamish around blood, then this isn't your movie.

7 out of 10

Hitler on Avatar

Inglourious Basterds Review

Inglourious Basterds is about a group of Jewish-American soldiers in WWII. Their sole mission is to torture, terrorize, and kill Nazis.

The movie is a mixed bag. Some parts are likable, while other parts are just boring.

My main gripe about the movie is that over half of it is subtitled. I guess the director, Quentin Tarantino, thought it would make it feel more authentic, but it just doesn't fit the style of his movies. I felt like I was reading, which is not something I want to have to feel in a movie.

Another gripe I have about the movie is that the dialogue felt liked it kept going on and on and on. The length of the movie didn't help either. It clocked in at over two and one half hours. I wanted to get to the next action scene instead of listening to what the characters had to say because, let's face it, we don't go to Tarantino's movies for the story. We go to them for the action, which was quite lacking for most of the movie until the end.

Brad Pitt's performance is mediocre at best. His country accent is one of the worst I've heard. He overdoes it so much that it creates laughter where there shouldn't be any.

I have no clue why Eli Roth, director of the Hostel movies, was in it. His acting skills were weak. He needs to stick to directing, not acting.

This movie isn't as grotesque as some of Tarantino's other movies, but it does have its moments (most notably when "the basterds" cut the scalps off of the Nazis' heads, and imprint swastikas into the Nazis that they allow to live).

Lastly, it has the humor we all expect from Tarantino, which some people may like and some people may not. It's strictly preference.

This movie is a good pick for die-hard Tarantino fans! Be warned; you will most likely be physically and emotionally exhausted after watching this movie!

6.5 out of 10

Avatar Day Preview

I normally don't do previews, but I guess there is a first time for everything, right? This is the type of movie that comes along once in a blue moon, so I felt like it deserved something special.

Today is a very momentous day for James Cameron's upcoming movie, Avatar. Select movie theaters around the nation played scenes to a chosen few (who reserved tickets). Selected viewers got to see fifteen minutes of the movie. Fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones who got to see the elusive 15 minutes.

The opening scene James Cameron greeting the audience. He sets up the story and tells viewers that Avatar is about a paraplegic war veteran named Jake Sulley. Sully gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to a foreign planet called Pandora. He must transform into one of the planets' inhabitants, called the Na'vi.

The best part of the preview was the visuals. The 3-D wasn't overwhelming. It nicely complemented the action on screen. The 3-D focused more on the depth and the ability to perceive it, instead of always relying on the usual "objects flying in your face routine". This movie will be talked about for ages, not only for the story (hopefully), but especially for the visuals. It was hard to tell where the CG began and where it ended. The colors of the world that the Na'vi live in are breathtaking. The flowers are gorgeous; they are true works of art. The barrage of colors -not only on the planet, but also on the creatures- is something to be marveled at.

One scene worth noting is when Jake tries to tame a dragon-like creature to ride. An intense fight ensues until Jake finally wins and tames the wild beast. The colors of the dragon are things of beauty- light blue, with hints of purple and all colors in between.

I have high hopes for this movie, and so far the sneak peek has only whetted my appetite for what is sure to be a movie for the ages!

Here is a link to the latest trailer. It gives you more of an idea of what the movie is really about!

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar/

Julie and Julia

I just got back from seeing Julie and Julia, Nora Ephron's mash-up of Julie Powell's blog/book, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, and Julia Child's autobiography My Life in France. Starring Amy Adams as Julie Powell and Meryl Streep as Julia Child, the film is at least half of a good movie. You get no points for guessing correctly.

The film interweaves the two stories - Julie's modern-day tale of attempting to cook the entire ouevre of Child's seminal cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking over the course of one year, and Child's tale of her days in Paris, going to culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu, and writing her legendary cookbook. But more importantly, it tells the story of Child's relationship with her husband and muse Paul. Fortunately, this part of the movie works on all levels.

I was tempted to say cooks on all levels, but that might be a bit much.

The structure of the interspersed stories doesn't work terribly well for one main reason - I just didn't care about the modern day story. This has to be due in large part to this section of Ephron's script, which is a rather bland bit of "empowerment" that left me cold. Julie Powell comes off as a bit of a dilettante, and the reliably charming Amy Adams is as unappealing as I've ever seen her. At no point did I feel any empathy for her character, and when her husband (Chris Messina) leaves her temporarily, I saw no reason for him to return.

On the other hand, Stanley Tucci gives an amazing performance as Paul Childs. There is a sense of passion and style between the two that makes you look at Julia Child in a completely different way. Their relationship is white-hot and sexy, and the feeling of love, and lust, between the two characters is one of the more realistic portrayals I've seen of middle-aged love and passion. Meryl Streep is, as always, mesmerizing.

Everyone knows how the story ends - French Cooking becomes perhaps the most influential cookbook ever published, now in it's 49th printing, but the details and nuance of their life together is fun to watch, and at times heart-wrenching. Paul Child was a career diplomat, and his dealings with the odious Joseph McCarthy and HUAC in the late fifties would have given anyone pause. And the scene where Julia learns of her sister's pregnancy, the mix of pride, love, and regret (the Childs never had children) that swirls on Streep's face, along with Tucci's response, is wonderful.

And the food - I have to admit that Julie Powell's half of the story gets better food porn, which for those who know me is saying a bit. Watching the movie made me hungry, and made me want to cook. Which I plan to do this weekend.

So, Meryl Streep gets a big yes, Stanley Tucci gets a big yes, and sadly, Amy Adams gets a big meh...

The Top 5 Movies I'm Looking Forward To Seeing This Year.

Here is a list of the top five movies I am looking forward to seeing this year. Follow the links for a look at the trailers.

5. Shutter Island

This movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, with Martin Scorsese directing. It is about DiCaprio traveling to a mysterious island that is home to a mental institution. He's looking for an escaped patient, and he gets more than he bargained for while there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdumGs1qoXM

4. Sherlock Holmes

It stars Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes. I'm looking forward to seeing this modern take on this classic detective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQbmFAE5WI

3. Lovely Bones

From author Alice Sebold, comes the tale of a young girl's murder and her family's search for answers. It is directed by critically acclaimed director Peter Jackson, of Lord of the Rings fame. The trailer even has an introduction from Jackson himself!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWyNYxGZonI

2. The Road

From Cormac McCarthy, author of No Country for Old Men, comes the story of a boy and his father in a post-apocalyptic world struggling to live at all costs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbLgszfXTAY

1. Avatar

From James Cameron, director of Titanic, comes this revolutionary 3-D movie. Avatar is about a group of humans who travel to another planet and are pitted against the planet's inhabitants. This movie has been shrouded in secrecy from its conception. There will be little known about this movie until its December 18 release. Here's a teaser trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs3_1qKl34

The Goods Review

The Goods tells the story of hotshot used car salesman Don "The Goods" Ready. When a used car dealership in California is facing bankruptcy, they call on Don and his crew to save them.

Don is played by Jeremy Piven. His performance is lackluster at best. It feels like we've seen his character in numerous other movies. There really isn't anything about Piven's character that feels real.

There are a few good laughs here and there, but they reuse some of the same material over and over again. They even go as far as throwing Will Ferrell out of a plane to try to get some laughs. The worst part about the movie is that they try to reuse some of the material in a different way. This humor might appeal to some people, but it's nothing we haven't seen in countless movies before it.

6 out of 10

District 9 Review

Neill Blomkamp's first feature film is a stunning success. He weaves details into the story that make the movie come to life. It is a "must see"!

It tells the story of an alien race stranded in the city of Johannesburg, forced to live in the slums called District 9. The alien race, or as the humans call them, "Prawns", are forced to live in filth and poverty. The slums are sectioned off from the rest of the city, but the conditions still cause feelings of hatred toward the aliens.

The way Blomkamp shows the emotional connection between the aliens is really amazing. An emotional connection is established between the viewer and the alien race, and viewers may find themselves concerned about the aliens' well being. The movie was shot like a documentary, which makes it feel even more realistic.

The main character is a man who works at MNU, the company set up to handle Human-Alien relations. He is sent out with the task of evicting some of the aliens to a more suitable location that is further removed from humans. He accidentally becomes the key to harnessing the power to use the alien encrypted weapons. He is faced with the challenge of helping the aliens return home and returning the human race to normalcy.

This is a genre-defining movie that can't be missed!!

9 out of 10

Entering the World of Blogging and Movie Reviews!

Welcome Everyone!

My name is Jonathan and this is my first blog. I know that I'm really late to the whole "blogging scene", but better late than never, right? One of my favorite passions in life is watching movies, and since I watch so many movies, I decided to create this blog where I can voice my opinion on the movies I see. Hopefully, my reviews can help you determine what movies are worth seeing and which ones are worth passing up! If you have any questions or advice for me, send me an email at jonsh92@gmail.com.